The Mermaid and Her Prince
by RiiiiiFics
Summary: Future AU: Misty is now older, and as she changes as a person so will her life. She once again manages to regain to two people she lost back in her life, and an extra third. As she deals with growing up, she must also deal with the love, sickening her heart. [Contains: Pokeshipping, Egoshipping, Cursing, Violence, and Sexual Content (no real lemon, just brief descriptions).]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hey guys! It's been a while since I've been on this website. My email had been hacked and I didn't want to cause the risk of having my stories sent everywhere. So once again I begin writing! It feels so good to be back. So basically, if you had read my previous story _The Lovely Tears _this is a remake of it, since I had deleted it. The story will be changed up a bit, so I hope you like it! Criticism is always welcomed, so please review! Thanks! :)

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><p><strong>Chapter I<strong>

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><p>SPLASH!<p>

A ratata was slammed onto the surface of the pool. Bubbles surface and finally, the fainted pokemon.

"Oh no, ratata!" The pokemon's concerned trainer screeched, totally mortified.

Returning their pokemon in their designated pokeball, the sorrowful trainer sighs, it happened again. He lost to _her. _

A young ginger female, riding atop her kingdra, make it across the pool's surface to the side of the defeated trainer. The ginger hopped onto the set platform, as her kingdra dove into the pool water.

"Good battle there, champ." She outstretched her hand toward him, who could only smile and accept defeat as gracefully as he could.

Shaking her hand, "Gym Leader Misty, thank you for the battle. This was the 5th time that I lost. I'm sorry to have wasted your time..."

Misty shook her head, "What? Are you kidding me? You've improved so much since the last week. I think you were very close to winning, actually. Train some more and battle me again. Who knows, maybe next time, you just might be holding the Cascade badge?"

She smiled, which was enough to reignite a spark of hope in the defeated trainer.

"You got that right, Gym Leader Misty! I can't wait to battle again! See ya next week!"

The trainer bolted out of the gym. Misty scratched the back of her head.

"Heh, I don't even know his name and he's challenged me 5 times already... That kid is in such a rush." She sighed.

"Reminds me of someone familiar..."

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><p>Making her way back through the gym's lounge room and then into the living compartments, the aroma of food being cooked was swaying in the air. The smell intoxicated the ginger, who followed it eagerly. In the kitchen cooking was Daisy, one of Misty's older sisters. The sizzling from the pan and the sweet-spicy smell of the air could only indicate one thing...<p>

"Oh my gosh! Daisy, are you making that special stir fry again?!" Misty enthusiastically asked, from the entrance of the kitchen door.

"If by 'special', you mean oran berry, then yes!" Her blonde sister continued stirring.

The ginger walked into the kitchen, clearing the air around her of the steam with her hands. The kitchen was getting humid, so Misty took it upon herself to open the window nearby. She leaned against the window frame, gazing at the city scape in the distant. It was beautiful, Cerulean City is beautiful. And the smell in the kitchen at the moment, was simply divine.

The mix of both sight and sound swirled a nostalgic feeling inside the ginger female, she remembers someone who could cook. Someone who could make the taste buds in her mouth pop from so much excitement because the cooking this person would create would exceed those of other master chefs. This person... was not present in her life. Not currently, not in the longest time. She sighed sadly.

She ruined the moment for herself.

"Hey Misty, would you be a good little sis and set the table for me? Food's gonna be done soon." Daisy continued adding sauces and seasoning. The smell getting stronger in the kitchen.

"Sure."

Misty walked out of the kitchen, saddened by her own thoughts. She set the table, decorating the modern-exotic looking dining room table in a quirky assortment of plates. Much to her sisters' individual likings. Daisy likes her pink plate, blue utensils, and green cup. Violet preferred a white plate, yellow cup, and pink utensils. Lily, on the other hand, likes a yellow plate, blue cup, and red utensils. Misty usually just took whatever she could find for herself, she wasn't too into prioritizing what she would like to eat and drink with.

Misty decided to fetch Violet and Lily for lunch.

"Hey Violet, lunch is gonna be ready soon. Come eat." Misty knocked on her door.

She could hear scribbling sounds coming from her sister's close bedroom, which could only mean that Violet was busy writing up a new idea for a water ballet. The ginger moved on to Lily's room, whose door was wide open. She walked in, only to roll her eyes at the sight. Lily was messily sleeping in bed. The bed sheets were crumpled and hanging onto the floor at the edge of the bed, as the pink haired girl was rested in the most weirdest position.

Misty sighed, irritably.

"Lily, get up, it's 2 PM!" The ginger picked up a pillow on the floor of the bedroom and clapped her sister's groggy, sleepy face with it.

Lily jerked because of the sudden attack and groaned, her face still buried under the pillow thrown at her. Misty counted down in her mind for the scene that was to come.

_3... 2.. 1.._

Lily sprung up on her bed, clutching onto two pillows tightly. She screamed angrily.

"YOU FUCKING TROLL! WHY DID YOU WAKE ME UP?!"

The girl on the bed pelted her younger sister with the pillows in her hands, and continued to throw more from her bed. Misty dodged all of her pillow attacks and laughed teasingly at her sister.

"You dumb ass, I'm waking you up so you can eat lunch, or should I say in your case - BREAKFAST!" Misty added with a teasing smile. She walked backward toward the door, waiting for the final moments of her sister's rage.

Lily quickly grabbed her beaten up cellphone and flung it toward Misty, who quickly closed the door in front of her, making the door claim the attack. Misty laughed once outside of Lily's room, and sprinted back to the dining room table. She took her seat and within moments, Daisy came to the table with a serving plate full of her special oran berry stir fry. Violet appeared moments later and took her seat.

"Hey Violet!" Daisy greeted, she also took her seat. "Where's Lily?"

"I'm here, I'm here." Groaned a grouchy voice, from the hallway. Lily entered the room, her hair a mess and her face annoyed.

She instantaneously glared at Misty, while taking her seat.

"Good _morning_, Lily. Slept well?" Misty smirked at her.

"Shut up, you little bitch." Lily scoffed and served herself some food.

The four sisters ate their lunch, when suddenly - **BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

It was Misty's cellphone. She checked the screen:

**_Text Message from Gary._**

**_Slide to read text message. _**

"Uh, I got to take this." She pushed herself from the table and walked away into the hallway. Unlocking the text message, she read:

**_"Hey there, Hot Head! Listen, I'm on my way, leaving the lab to drop off this week's shipment of pokemon food. Be there in an hour."_**

She responded back, **_"Yeah yeah, I got it."_**

After sending the messaging, she clicked her cellphone back off and returned to the dining room. Placing herself back into her seat, she picked up where she left off, eating the oran berry stir fry in front of her.

"Who were you talking to on the phone, Misty?" Violet placed a chunk of oran berry in her mouth, and chewed slowly for the flavor to consume her taste buds.

"Oh it's nobody special, just that younger Oak."

"Oh really? What did he say?" Lily cut into the conversation. She was still pretty annoyed at her sister for the incident earlier. Although it happened on a daily basis.

"He just mentioned that he'd be coming here to drop off that shipment of beta pokemon food that we're testing on our gym pokemon."

"Oh yeah, about that..." Violet began, "How much longer are we going to have to keep on feeding our gym pokemon this experimental food? I'm not sure it's having any effects on the pokemon?"

Misty shrugged, "We have this last shipment and then in about a month Gary's gonna come and evaluate the pokemon like he did in the beginning of the trial."

"Ugh, I don't understand why you agreed to make our gym pokemon test subjects for that Oak kid?" Lily groaned irritably, Misty rolled her eyes at her.

"Now Lily," Daisy joined, "Let's not start something. I'm pretty sure Misty tried to do what was best for the gym pokemon. Remember, it's supposed to enhance the pokemon's speed in water." Daisy tried to make the conversation easy going.

"Whatever." Lily rolled her eyes.

Misty puckered her lips tightly in disgust at Lily. Lily glared back at her. This was a usual happening during lunch.

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><p>After lunch, it was Violet's turn to wash the dishes for the day. The rest of the sisters dispersed to do their desired routine. Daisy went to the living room to watch her soap opera, <em>Sweet Kiss Attack!<em>, while Lily went back into her bedroom to search for an outfit to wear for the day.

Misty left the living quarters and entered the gym's lounge. There's she saw an enormous Dodrio standing in the middle of the lounge, it had boxes on it's back.

"Hey there, Hot Head." A voice traveled from the hallway into the lounge. The figure walking up the hallway was none other than, Gary Oak. The trainer of the Dodrio.

This greeting was no surprise to Misty, she knew he would show up early. He always does. But usually, it was with umbreon.

"I'm surprised," Misty began, "Usually, your umbreon waits in the lounge for you?"

The ginger raised one hip up and placed her hand on it, standing prissily.

"Yeah, I know. But Dodrio here was aching to get out of the lab, plus Umbreon's not feeling too well."

"Aw," Misty said out of concern, hearing the news. She walked toward Dodrio and removed one of the boxes on its back to relieve some of the burden.

"So how's it doing?"

"Umbreon's kind of sick. But he'll get better." Gary grinned. She smiled out of relief, "Good."

Both the pokemon professor and the gym leader walked into the pool/battle area, along with Dodrio. All of them were carrying huge boxes of pokemon food.

"Alright guys!" The ginger called for the pokemon in the gym's pool, "Come get some lunch!"

The gym pokemon were then fed the food from the boxes, and returned to their leisure. As for Dodrio, it was returned in its pokeball. The two teenagers made their way to the pool-side bleachers, to chat as they usually did.

"So how's everything with you, Oak? Are you catching up with your grandpa, in terms of rank?" Misty opened a can of lemonade from a can and drank.

Gary opened his can of lemonade, "Yeah, everything's cool. And definitely, Hot Head. I'm currently writing a paper base on the environmental impact of pokemon moves. It's coming together pretty well."

He drank some lemonade, "And you?"

The ginger reached into her back pocket and pulled out an envelope. She handed it to Gary, "Read it."

A little concerned, the auburn haired teen took the envelope and read the letter inside. The first thing he saw on the paper was the trademark stamp of the Pokemon and Trainers Organization. The letter read:

_**"Dear Ms. Waterflower,**_

_**We are once again sending you a letter offering you a promotion from your gym leader status, to that of Kanto's Elite Four. As we mentioned in earlier letters, our records indicate a decline in shipment orders of official Cascade badges over the past three years. Along with this information, we have received confirmation from a few of our scouts about the effectiveness of your battling. It seems that you are ranked an 8.9 out of 10, on our Trainer Battle Rating, or TBR. Because your TBR is very high, and it seems your pokemon are overqualified, we, the the officials of the PTO are allowing you a chance to promote your rank to that of an Elite Four.**_

_**To become a member of the Elite Four, you would first have to follow certain procedures. You would have to battle all members of the Elite Four with your legally official pokemon team, consisting of a party of 6. No less than that. If you manage to defeat even one of them, you will replace them for their title. The following events would take place afterward: your gym leader license will be taken away and replaced with that of the elite four's, you would be required to move closer to the area of the Kanto League Stadium. Which would mean your gym would be taken away from your ownership and given to the next gym leader of Cerulean City. If you have any more questions call us or reply back soon.**_

_**Sincerely, **_

_**The Board of the PTO"**_

He turned to Misty, awestruck.

"Woah, Hot Head, this is awesome! You're being invited to become a member of Kanto's Elite Four!"

Misty shrugged and looked away, something was wrong. Gary could obviously tell.

"Okay, whats up?" He asked in a dull voice, folding the letter back into the envelope and placing it between them. He turned his body to her completely, waiting for her answer. She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"I haven't told my sisters about it yet... this is the actually the third time they offered me the promotion. It turns out they've been hiring scouts to battle me because I haven't been ordering any shipments of Cascade badges in the past few years. It seems my pokemon are too strong to battle most of the beginning trainers that venture out here..."

Slightly taken back, Gary sighed as well.

"But Misty, don't you want to rank up? I mean, you may as well be the next champion of the pokemon league if you really wanted to. Plus, wouldn't getting this promotion mean that you would earn more than your current gym leader salary? Wouldn't your sisters feel better about moving to where all of the excitements are?"

Gary repeatedly slammed questions at Misty. The ginger, on the other hand, couldn't deal with the questions. She kept looking toward the glass ceiling above them.

"Misty," Gary's voice fell to a low, serious murmur, "What's really the matter?"

Misty held her knees to her body and turned her head toward him, "I miss them so much, Gary."

"Who?"

"You know," She sighed dreamily, as if she were about to express a story of an enchanting fantasy. "Ash, Brock..."

Just two words were emitted from her modulated voice, which was all it took for Gary to feel the nostalgia, melancholy, and curiosity in those two names.

"I just really want to see them again. I want..." She paused, looking at the pool's glistening water, "...to make them proud of me."

The auburn haired teen felt a chill run down his spine. The vibe of the ginger's strong feelings swayed in their surrounding.

"I want," She continued, "to show them how much I've grown as a person and a trainer since they left me, before I make any big career changing decision in my life."

Misty beamed her big, teary azure eyes into Gary's dark viridian ones. She smiled.

He could only nod, gingerly. However, inside, his heart was beating fast and his breathing was stuttered.

"I see." He finally responded, and chugged down all of his lemonade.

Oh how he just wanted to hug her, _so badly_.

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><p><strong>To Be Continued.<strong>

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><p><strong>Ending AN: **So that was it! That was the first chapter! Much more to come from this mult-chap fic. But for now, I hope you liked it. I tried my best with improving my writing style. Please try to review, thank you. Have a wonderful day. :)


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Okay guys! Here's chapter two! Woo! Hope you enjoy it! Like I mentioned in the fic's summary, there is lemon description, no actually scenes really? So here we go. If you have anything to say, be sure to review. Just a little heads up, this chapter is focused on Gary and his view on Misty and this also an insight into his life. So here we go! Hope you like it!

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><p><strong>Chapter II<strong>

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><p>Yawn.<p>

His eyes slowly opened, looking at the dull color of a yellow ceiling. He blinked, and turned his head, catching a glimpse of the blonde girl laying next to him.

The nineteen year old pokemon professor slowly made his way out of the bed, untangling himself from the messy sheets and the sleeping girl's arms. All without disturbing her. He was stark naked, staring down at the blonde. He sucked his teeth in disappointment.

"God, she was so terrible last night." He softly sighed.

Gary retrieved his clothes from the floor and dressed himself. After gathering his belongings, he made it to the door of the motel room. He looked back one last time and frowned, finally closed the door behind him.

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><p>"Good morning, Gary!" Chimed Samuel Oak, grandfather to the auburn haired teen, who had just entered the house.<p>

"I see you've spent the night out, nothing new." the elder professor was cooking breakfast in the kitchen, the aroma of the food brought the teen to him.

His grandson took a seat at the island in the enormous kitchen.

"You could say that..." Gary yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"And so, how was it?"

"Terrible."

"I see." The elder Oak nodded, still sauteing whatever he was cooking.

After about a few minutes of silence between the two Oaks, except for the sound of the sizzling food being cooked, Professor Oak turned off the stove top.

"Breakfast is ready."

Gary stood from his chair and set the island with plates for the two of them. His grandfather placed the dish in the center. Both then took their seats and served themselves, and talked away.

Gary and his grandfather are very close to each other, relationship-wise. Both of them never seem to get bored, or annoyed with one another. Professor Oak is very understanding and on top of that, he tries his best to be a father figure to Gary as much as possible. As well as a friend. His grandson could obviously see he's trying and deeply admires that about him.

Both of the Oaks talk about personal matter to one another like it's nothing, but the confidentiality between them is never broken. This is a reason why Professor Oak is very easygoing when it comes to Gary and his frivolous nighttime adventures. Although he does try to advise his grandson to be safe and protected, and to avoid it if he can.

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><p>After breakfast Gary helped his grandfather wash the dishes and clean up. He ventured to his room afterward and threw himself upon his bed. Oh how comfortable his bed was compared to that of the motel's!<p>

**BEEP! BEEP!**

His phone received a notification. He dug through his pant pockets and read the screen.

**Blondie: **

**Hey! I just woke up. Anyways, text me or call me back if you ever wanna hook up again. Bye! **

He clicked his phone back off and stuffed it into his pocket, pushing his head into the mattress.

"No thanks, sweetheart. Your type of sex was horrible."

The teenager was so happy to be back at home after his last minute hookup from last night. He wanted to nap forever at this point, but he remembered he had his research paper to get to work on.

He groaned, "Man, sometimes I wish people would just recognize me as a famous pokemon professor like my grandfather, already!"

Gary got up off his bed and walked over to his messy desk. He opened his laptop and began typing. As he clicked away at his laptop's keyboard, jotting down some points for his essay he began thinking.

**Pokemon moves have types, many wonder...**

And then he began thinking of her. Misty Waterflower.

**Pokemon moves have types, many wonder how is it that she's so beautiful without even trying.**

He stopped typing, quickly ending his thought when he realized what he was thinking about. He looked at the screen and gasped.

"What the fuck?!" He breathed quickly, redness taking over his cheeks, "Why did I write this?"

He began furiously deleting the sentence in embarrassment. He never expected to make such an error when thinking. In fact, this is the first time that he has ever thought of her like this.

"She's not even hot...?" He spoke to himself, completely distracted from his work.

Then he remembered how amazing she looked when she would greet him every time. How her eyes would shine, providing a feeling of welcoming and warmth. How she would adjust her body language cheekily and seductively to his teasing remarks, without even knowing it. How her beautiful ginger locks kissed her forehead and shoulders, gracing everyone she was around, with her presence. How her voice was a sweet melody sirens would use to hypnotize seamen and bring them to their watery deaths.

Never mind, she was beautiful. She surpassed being hot in every way to him. But he was sure he didn't have feelings for her in that way, besides... they're just friends! _Really close friends. _

There's no way he'd ever want to be with her. Especially since she was so feisty and combative. Of course, there was no denying, if he was given the chance to spend a single steamy, no-strings-attached night with her - he would take it. Any day.

It amazed him very much that he would think of doing such things with her, primarily because when he was younger he found her downright irritating and uninteresting. Not to mention unattractive and an eyesore to her sisters. However, since she had returned to her role as gym leader in Cerulean City eight years ago, Gary would occasionally stop by the gym to scope the place of anything exciting, such as any upcoming water ballets featuring her elder, attractive sisters.

At the time he was about her age, eleven years old, when he was just beginning to get into his pokemon research by checking the growth of pokemon in a nearby daycare center to Cerulean City. About four years after Misty had returned, news spread throughout Kanto that the Cerulean City gym leader was a sight to see in battle! Fifteen year old Gary decided to see the action live, he traveled to the Cerulean City gym only to find Misty training with her water pokemon, wearing a very skimpy bathing suit. That was the time when he actually acquainted himself with the new, attractive version of Misty and began talking. From there, their friendship bloomed.

At nineteen years old, she became more attractive! She was no longer known as the runt, when being compared to her sisters. But now, she out shined them on any given day. Yes, Misty was now considered to be part of the Sensational Sisters of Cerulean City, and the prettiest one to be exact!

Gary couldn't help but think how marvelous it would be to have such a prize like her scream his name, over and over again. He could almost feel the sensation of her nails digging in his back at the very thought of him savagely rocking into her. She would moan and pant heavily, as he would continue to drive her insane with every touch. He stopped his day dreaming and looked down in his seat, he sighed annoyingly. Picking up his phone and unlocking it, he looked through his list of booty calls and put the phone to his ear when he reached one.

"Hey," He greeted, "D-T-F?"

He waited for the female voice on the other line. Finally, an answer.

"Sure! Meet me at my place."

"'Kay. Be there in twenty minutes."

Gary hung up the call. He closed his laptop, took a silver packet from his nightstand drawer, and left with his keys and phone in his hand.

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><p>After spending about an hour at his booty call's place, enjoying the sweet pleasure of another random hook up, Gary left the apartment complex and ventured into the streets of Pallet Town. Walking down the street, he noticed a woman struggling to hold up two large brown paper bags overflowing with groceries. A close look made him realize it was Ash's mother, Mrs. Ketchum! The teenager ran over to the struggling woman's aid.<p>

"Hey there, Mrs. Ketchum! Let me help you with that." Gary took the two bags without a problem from Mrs. Ketchum's arms.

"Oh Gary-dear, thank you very much!" Smiled his friend's mother, "I can't believe I'd find you out here on this side of town, especially since you're out doing big pokemon research."

The two of them began walking down the sidewalk in the direction of Ash's house.

"Oh it's nothing big, Mrs. Ketchum." He blushed, "It's nothing compared to what my Grandfather has already done."

"Oh nonsense, dear. You'll be at the top, right next to your grandfather, real soon." Mrs. Ketchum cheered.

"Gee, thanks." He smiled back at her.

"So," She began, "What brings you to this part of town?"

"Oh. Um..." He hesitated, "I was here... visiting a friend."

What a good excuse. Mrs. Ketchum simply nodded, and added "That's nice, dear."

The duo continued walking, and finally reached Ash's house. Mimey, Mrs. Ketchum's Mr. Mime, opened the door for them and took the groceries from Gary's arms. Mrs. Ketchum led Gary to the living room and sat him down.

"Would you like to eat lunch with us as a reward for helping me with my groceries?" Mrs. Ketchum asked.

Gary was hungry since he hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, and now it was about 2 PM. Besides, he couldn't reject Mrs. Ketchum, especially since she asked in a sweet, caring voice.

"Yes, thank you." The auburn haired teen nodded.

Ash's mother left to the kitchen, as Gary sat in the living room and looked around at his neat surroundings. He hasn't been at Ash's house in the longest time. Thirty minutes later Mrs. Ketchum called Gary to the dining room. She and Mimey were already seated, and were waiting for Gary to serve himself. The aurburn haired teen took his seat across from Mrs. Ketchum and served himself. The two then began to converse.

"So did you hear, the Indigo Plateau Pokemon League Championships are going to start tomorrow?"

Gary swallowed the morsel in his mouth.

"Yeah, I heard!" He responded enthusiastically as he placed another mouthful of the scrumptious food in front of him in his mouth.

"Did you know Ash is going to battle there tomorrow?" Mrs. Ketchum calmly sipped her beverage. Gary on the other hand almost choked, trying to swallow down his food.

"Excuse me," He coughed trying to clear his throat, "Ash is there?! He made it there, again?!"

Gary stared at her goggle-eyed, with much surprise! Mrs. Ketchum grinned and nodded.

He couldn't believe it.

_He had to tell Misty about this!_

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><p><strong>To Be Continued<strong>_.  
><em>

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><p><strong>Ending AN: **Looks like this chapter has come to an end! So, what did you think? Review your thoughts, I'd love to know more from you! Hope you enjoyed! :D


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Hello guys! I'm here to bring you another update of this fic! I hope you liked the previous chapter, and I feel very inspired to continue making more chapters for this fic, since I was recently inspired by ideas from my friend. But before you read any further I would like to inform my readers of certain things relating to this fic.

Basically, I received a message sometime ago stating the similarities between the Gary in my fic and the one in Branmuffinpower's fic "Game". I would like to assure you that even though I do read "Game", the Gary I write is not based off of the one in "Game". Yes, it's odd that both Garys are womanizers and whatnot, but I can assure you I am not copying. I would just like to clear this issue up.

Anyways, continue reading on! Bye!

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><p><strong>Chapter III<strong>

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><p>"That's it Corsola," cheered the Cerulean City gym leader from the edge of the pool, "Keep up that Bubble Beam attack!"<p>

The pink pokemon gliding quickly through the pool's water aimed it's Bubble Beam move at the set targets. All five targets were hit and blown out of the pool area. Corsola stopped, floating in the water, observing it's work. It was very proud of itself being able to hit the targets in the center and blow them all away. The gym pokemon at the sides of the pool cheered for Corsola's effort.

**SPLASH!**

Misty jumped into the pool and swam to her Corsola, hugging it proudly.

"Good job, Corsola. You did good!" Misty patted the pokemon's back, who happily purred in the trainer's arms. After a moment she released the pokemon from her arms and turned to the pokemon at the sidelines. The ginger scanned for her next trainee.

"Alright then..." She finally made a decision, "Golduck, you're up next!"

Golduck, jumped in enthusiastically when it was called and wasted no time in setting itself up for training. Misty swam over to the edge of the pool, hoisting herself atop of the slippery edge. She walked over to the side of the pool where Golduck was waiting, anxiously.

"Okay Golduck," Misty picked up her timer from the edge of the pool, "I want you to give me your best Aqua Jet move against those targets in the air."

The Golduck's trainer pointed toward the gym ceiling, as new targets automatically set themselves up. Golduck nodded, ready to begin.

"Alright then!"

"Ready..."

"Set..."

"GO-"

"Misty!" a wailing voice came from under the pool stage, the ginger checked for the voice's owner who was none other than Gary Oak.

The auburn haired teen ran up the pool stairs in a flurry of excitement, Misty put down her timer by the pool's edge and walked toward the edge of the staircase. It was strange seeing Gary Oak this excited? It must be something big.

_"It's most likely some new boring discovery he made.."_ Misty thought, bored already.

Just then, Gary reached the top breathless and panting from his run. Leaning against the iron railing for support he tried to catch his breath, knowing how uncool he looked at that point. After about a second or more of that, he straightened himself and finally took a look at Misty, all of his excitement stopped and was replaced with amazement.

There she stood, Misty Waterflower. Her wet hair messily tied back in a bun, ginger strands sticking to the side of her face, as if complimenting her beautiful face and figure. She was adorned in a green and yellow striped bikini, that was soaked and clinging to her skin. Gary couldn't help but enjoy the view, especially since it was folding her arms and rolling her eyes at him.

"Hello, Gary? Earth to Gary, are you there?" She tapped her foot against the soaked pool floor, impatiently.

Gary regained his senses, pushing himself off the railing and dusting himself off, as if he didn't look like an giddy little boy just a few seconds ago.

"Yeah, yeah, Hot Head. I'm here." He grinned teasingly at her, she only rolled her eyes once again sighing with boredom.

"What do you want now, Oak? Can't you see I'm busy training my pokemon..." She waved her hand back in the direction of all her water pokemon. Gary nodded.

"That's cool, but guess what's even cooler."

"What?"

"Nuh-uh," He shook his head and folded his arms, "You're going to have to guess."

Misty gave a low growl, rolling her eyes. "Enough of this, I have to get back to training my pokemon instead of guessing about which boring new discovery you have to tell me about!"

Just as she turned away to return to the pool's edge, her arm was grabbed and she was spun around. Instantly, she fell forward into the body of Gary Oak, as his hands held her waist and hers clung onto the shirt's fabric on his chest. Her mind went blank, viewing his viridian eyes pierce her own cerulean blue orbs. He smirked teasingly, and all she could feel was his lusty aura surround both of them.

"You guessed wrong." He spoke in a smoky voice, she could only stand speechless.

The way he held her, made her feel so vulnerable and defenseless. He was intimidating, like that of a luxray's ability. She puckered her lips inward and breathed in heavily, she tried to size up to him with an solid glare.

She released her breath asking, "Okay, then what is it?"

_"A monotonous tone. Expected very much from her by the way she's being held up."_ Gary thought to himself.

"A certain trainer boy is going to be on television tomorrow, his name rhymes with crash, and he's going to be featured in the Indigo Plateau Pokemon League Tournament." He pulled her in closer, as her mouth dropped at that very moment.

She knew exactly what he meant!

"You don't mean..."

"Ash Ketchum? Yup that's him!" Gary cheered finally.

The ginger in his arms felt the world spinning around her, her emotions began jumping all over the place thinking about _him_. It began to show in her eyes, tears expelling from them. The ginger wrapped her arms around Gary's neck, hugging him.

Gary, almost instinctively, twirled them both around as his arms wrapped around her waist completely. Her feet lifted off the floor for a few seconds, and it felt like she had received some eternal bliss. She chuckled happily once her feet reunited with the floor, and pulled herself away from Gary. He was still holding her by her waist.

"This..." She began, her voice slightly weak with happy tears "...is the best news I've heard in a long time."

Oh how Gary wanted to tell her how beautiful she looked in that moment. Her face radiated with serenity and glee.

_Why, he could just kiss her!_

"I know! But that's not even the best part. He's coming back to Pallet Town as soon as the tournament is finished!"

More good news! Misty practically jumped back into an embrace with him. Her arms flung around his neck again and hugged him tightly.

"Oh! Thank you so much for this news, Gary!" She pulled herself once again from him, they still held each other. "But where did you find this out?"

"You see, earlier in Pallet I helped Ash's mom with her groceries and she told me about it. So I came over to Cerulean City to tell you the news."

Misty grinned at him, proud that he put his energy into actually tell her this news first. She didn't really have any other feeling but to hug Gary even more, but their moment came to a halt as the duo heard a cough come from the edge of the stairs.

"Oh my gosh!" The blonde squeaked, covering her mouth.

"Are we interrupting something?" the pinkette folded her arms, smirking.

It was Lily and Daisy, Misty's sisters. They had just caught Gary and Misty in each others arms, the two teenagers were quick to pry themselves off of one another.

"Hey Lily, Daisy..." Misty greeted them nervously, a red blanket of embarrassment spread upon her cheeks.

Gary stuffed his hands into his pockets, not really phased by their appearance.

"Hey." The auburn haired teen greeted, rather shamelessly.

"You know, if you guys really need to be with each other that bad, then you should just go up to Misty's bedroom." Lily pointed at the ceiling, with a suggestive look on her face.

Daisy slapped Lily's arms, "Lily, don't say things like that!"

Misty's face became a shade of scarlet, Gary watched on, with a grin.

"But if you do do anything," Lily turned to Gary, "Go easy on her, Misty's still a cherry girl."

Lily teased, and Misty burned with mortification.

"It's not like that!" Misty argued, "It's just that he gave me good news and I was happy... and well..."

The ginger looked at the ground, still dripping wet from her acquaintance with the pool water, she feels chills run down her spine. Chills from the wind that just blew through the gym, or chills from embarrassment. She couldn't decide.

"What's the good news?" Daisy entered into the conversation.

"Nothing much," Gary craned his neck to the side, looking out the big glass windows near the ceiling of the gym. "Just telling Misty here that her old flame, Ash Ketchum, is going to be competing once again in the Indigo Plateau."

The ginger quickly snapped her head in Gary's direction, glaring him down.

"_'Old flame'_?! He's nothing of that sort to me!" Misty screeched, Gary chuckled, only to upset her more.

"Oh give it up, Misty. We all know that you got the hots for that kid." Lily placed a hand on her hip, suggestively once again.

Misty began shouting once again, Gary and Lily couldn't stop laughing, and at this point... Daisy wondered why she even tagged along with Lily to see Misty practice.

* * *

><p>After the heated situation, well for Misty at least, settled down everyone returned to their tasks at hand. Lily and Daisy went out to do some grocery shopping, whilst Gary watched at the bleachers as Misty trained with her pokemon.<p>

In all honesty, Gary could admit to himself that he was definitely not watching the pokemon train, rather glancing at Misty every now and then. But he did recognize, she was no joke as a trainer. She truly is a sight to see in battle. Her and her pokemon act in complete sync with one another, there was no other way to describe it besides a perfect harmony of trainer and pokemon. Gary could see why the PTO would want the Cerulean City gym leader to be amongst the ranks of the Elite Four.

"That's great Golduck! Keep up that Aqua Jet!" Misty's voice echoed, as she cheered on her pokemon. Gary watched enthusiastically as Misty's highly skilled Golduck blasted through the bulls-eye of hung targets!

The gym leader jumps into the pool and swims to her Golduck, hugging it for it's outstanding performance! The trainer and pokemon duo swam back to the edge of the pool.

"Alright," Misty's voice echoed, "Politoed! You're up!"

The excited green pokemon chirped happily and swam quickly to take it's place, as Misty pulled herself out of the pool. Gary's eyes glittered as the ginger brought herself to stand at the pool's edge. Her size-too-small bikini was clinging tighter around her body than ever, and Gary could only thank Arceus so many times in his head for this view.

After training had finished, which lasted about another hour or so, Misty returned her pokemon into their pokeballs for well-earned rests. As for her, she walked down the side of ginormous pool's stairs and back to the main floor. Gary walked down the bleachers to catch up with her. He was holding a towel that hung at the side of the bleachers, where Misty usually kept it after training or battling.

"Thanks." She took the towel from his hands and shrouded herself in it.

"Well, I got to get going. I have to start making arrangements for my plans to meet and discuss my new findings with a bunch of pokemon professors in Sinnoh."

Misty stopped mid stride, turning to the auburn haired teen, "You're going to Sinnoh? When?"

"In about a week or two." He answered nonchalantly.

"How long are you staying there?"

"About... maybe..." He began counting his fingers, "2 - 3 weeks, give or take."

"...And how come you never told me about this?" Misty folded her arms across her chest, leering at him. She felt slightly betrayed by this, even though Gary was a busy person in all actuality.

He went on business trips quite frequently when it comes to matters of pokemon research. But Misty felt they were close enough to tell each other trivial things like this.

Gary looked at her, brows furrowed in curiosity. "Uh, Hot Head, why do you care?"

"Listen here, Oak," She began, he'd done it now. He woke up the sleeping gyarados.

"I care because don't you think we're close enough friends at this point?" Her words slapped him in the face.

He never really got to analyze their bond, only thinking it was just another casual friendship. But was he wrong. As it evidently showed in Misty's deep cerulean orbs, it was important to her that he was her friend. And he suddenly felt likewise. His heart pounded hard for a second.

_"What the?!"_ He thought to himself, still staring mouth opened at the ginger in front of him. Something about the way she showed concern, something about it, made Gary's heart race. But why?!

"Well?" She still stood, waiting for his response. "... Yeah..." He managed the word out, still unsure of what to say.

The stunning discovery came to him, and slapped him ten times harder!

_He did care about her! _

_She was a very close friend to him!_

"But you see, I never thought you'd be interested in lame stuff like this? Besides," He continued rambling, still unsure with the feeling of revelation running within his being. "I do go on business trips often, and I never really thought that you'd be the one to care since you're so busy doing gym leader stuff and attending your own meetings?"

His words bounced right back at her. She stood, not knowing what to say, searching for words. This was an awkward situation, being that both of them openly admitted they were close enough friends with one another, finally, to be sharing trivial matters of their lives.

"I guess you're right. But from now on, tell me, okay?" She turned away from him, walking toward the dark hallway of the gym lounge. She turned back before walking away into the darkness, "Just in case I want you to get me a souvenir, ya know."

She left him for the day, with a smile as the last image. He could only smile back to himself, thinking about her smile as he left the gym.

* * *

><p>Gary arrived back in Pallet Town by 5 PM, he had to make arrangements for his trip to Sinnoh. Not only that, he wanted to be sure to check the TV guide concerning the events of the Indigo Plateau Pokemon Tournament that would take place the next day. He wanted to see Ash's face. It would be the first time in years, since Gary and him had never kept in contact.<p>

_"That guy better not have slacked off... He better make Pallet Town proud."_ The young pokemon professor thought to himself, entering his messy bedroom.

He began scavenging on his messy, paper-scrambled desk for his trip to Sinnoh in the following week. He picked up the open envelope and re-read the papers given to him. It mentioned Professor Rowan wanted to invite him and his grandfather over to discuss some new pokemon findings and conduct research. The letter mentions the location, which is Canalave City.

* * *

><p><strong> To Be Continued<strong>_.  
><em>

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><p><strong>Ending AN: **Looks like the chapter closes on this note. So what did you think? Please be sure to leave a review, tell me what you like, didn't like. If you have suggestions please be sure to review them! Thanks for reading. Until next time!


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